When an Insurance Company Reviews Your Doctor’s Treatment Request Key Takeaways: Utilization review (UR) is the mandatory process California employers and claims administrators use to decide whether a treatment your doctor requests is medically necessary, and it generally applies the same way to San Bernardino, Fontana, and Rialto claims. A
When an Unexplained Injury Speaks for Itself in a San Bernardino Hospital Key Takeaways: California Evidence Code § 646 makes res ipsa loquitur a presumption affecting the burden of producing evidence: once a plaintiff shows the harm does not ordinarily occur without negligence, the instrumentality was in the defendant’s exclusive
When a San Bernardino Emergency Room Misses the Signs of Sepsis Key Takeaways: Emergency room sepsis misdiagnosis occurs when ER staff fail to recognize, test for, or promptly treat a life-threatening infection response, and under California malpractice law it may become actionable when a provider falls below the professional standard
Understanding the Lifetime Benefit Available to Severely Injured California Workers Key Takeaways: A life pension in California workers’ compensation is a modest weekly payment that may continue for the rest of an injured worker’s life, potentially available when a permanent disability rating falls between 70% and 99.75%. It is generally
When a Back Injury at Work Becomes a Surgical Emergency Key Takeaways: Cauda equina syndrome is a compression of the nerve roots below the spinal cord that, in a California workers’ comp claim, is treated as a surgical emergency rather than a routine back injury. Compensability still requires showing the
When a Workplace Injury Turns Into Lifelong Nerve Pain Key Takeaways: Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), formerly called reflex sympathetic dystrophy, is a chronic neurological pain condition that can follow a crush injury, fracture, or surgery at work, and may be compensable under California workers’ compensation when medical evidence establishes
When the Insurance Company Says Your Injury Was Only "Partly" Work-Related Key Takeaways: Apportionment is the California legal process that divides the cause of a permanent disability between your work injury and other factors, such as prior injuries, pre-existing awards, or non-industrial conditions like degenerative disc disease. Labor Code §
The Pre-Suit Letter That Can Make or Break a San Bernardino Malpractice Claim Key Takeaways: A CCP 364 notice of intent is the formal pre-suit letter California law requires at least 90 days before filing malpractice suit. Under CCP § 364(b), it must state the legal basis, type of loss,
When Two Years of Wage Replacement Isn’t Enough After a Catastrophic Workplace Injury Key Takeaways: California generally limits temporary disability to 104 compensable weeks within five years under Labor Code § 4656(c)(2), but subdivision (c)(3) extends that entitlement to 240 compensable weeks for catastrophic injuries, including amputations. Proving the amputation
The Pre-Suit Step That Can Decide Whether Your Malpractice Case Survives Key Takeaways: California Code of Civil Procedure § 364 requires health care providers receive at least 90 days’ notice before a professional negligence action can be filed. The notice must state the legal basis and describe injuries with specificity,
